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Rays Claim Tyler Alexander From Tigers

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The Rays have claimed left-hander Tyler Alexander off waivers from the Tigers, according to announcements from both clubs. The Tigers had designated the lefty for assignment earlier this week.

Alexander, 29, will join a new organization for the first time in his career. He was selected by the Tigers in the second round of the 2015 draft and has been with that club in some fashion for close to a decade now. He pitched for the big league club in a swing capacity over the past five years, making 120 appearances since the start of 2019, including 43 starts. He logged 341 1/3 innings in that time with a 4.38 earned run average, 18.9% strikeout rate and 5.1% walk rate.

In 2023, he was moved to the bullpen on essentially a full-time basis, making just one start that lasted three innings. He threw 44 innings over 25 appearances in total with a 4.50 ERA, though perhaps deserved better. His 24.3% strikeout rate and 2.8% walk rate were both better than average, the latter number especially so. His 65.3% strand rate was a bit on the unlucky side, leading to ERA estimators looking at him through a relatively rosier lens, such as a 4.10 FIP and 3.48 SIERA.

In early July, Alexander landed on the injured list due to a left lat/shoulder strain and wasn’t able to return. There’s no injured list during the offseason, so the Tigers opted to cut him loose instead of adding him back onto the roster. It was effectively an early non-tender, with Alexander set to go through that process for a second time. He made $1.875MM in 2023 and MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a salary of $2MM in 2024.

It appears the Rays are willing to add Alexander at something near that price point, otherwise there would be little point in claiming him just before next week’s non-tender deadline. Assuming they plan to keep utilizing him out of the bullpen, he will join Colin Poche and Garrett Cleavinger as the club’s southpaw relief options. Alexander is still optionable and has another potential year of arb control remaining, perhaps allowing him to serve as a long-term depth piece for the Rays.

Royals Outright Nate Eaton

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The Royals have sent outfielder Nate Eaton outright to Triple-A Omaha, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week.

Eaton, who will turn 27 in December, has been serving as a depth outfielder with the Royals since being added to the roster in the second half of 2022. He was put into 72 big league games since that time but hasn’t hit much. He currently sports a batting line of .201/.266/.283 in 178 plate appearances, going down on strikes 28.7% of the time, but he has stolen 14 bases and his defense is generally regarded well.

Players with three years of service time or a previous career outright can reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. But neither of those criteria apply to Eaton, so he will stick with the Royals as some non-roster outfield depth. He will likely receive an invitation to major league Spring Training, where he will try to earn his way back into the mix.

Guardians, Adam Oller Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Guardians have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Adam Oller, reports Ari Alexander of Houston’s KPRC-2. The Gaeta Sports client will receive an invitation to Major League spring training and reunite with former teammate and new Cleveland skipper Stephen Vogt with this deal.

Oller, 29, was traded from the Mets to the A’s alongside prospect J.T. Ginn in the 2021-22 offseason trade that sent Chris Bassitt from Oakland to Queens. He spent parts of two seasons with the A’s and logged 94 innings between their rotation and bullpen, but Oller was hit hard in that time. Big league opponents turned in a .294/.378/.556 batting line against Oller in spite of his pitcher-friendly home environs, and by the time Oakland designated him for assignment, he’d been roughed up for a 7.09 ERA. The right-hander has fanned 13.5% of his opponents against an 11.6% walk rate.

Major League struggles notwithstanding, Oller was sharp at the Triple-A level both in 2021 with the Mets (2.45 ERA in 44 innings) and in 2022 with the A’s (3.69 ERA in 31 1/3 innings). He struggled with the top affiliates of both the A’s and Mariners (who claimed him from Oakland) during the most recent campaign, but Oller’s overall minor league track record has the look of a potential depth starter or swingman if he can shake off a tough ’23 campaign.

The Guardians’ pitching staff experienced an enormous amount of turnover in 2023, but Cleveland’s nearly unrivaled ability to churn out quality arms remained on display. A series of injuries and poor performances led the Guards to call up top prospects Tanner Bibee, Logan Allen and Gavin Williams for each pitcher’s big league debut, and all three hit the ground running. That trio looks like the focal point of the rotation moving forward.

Cleveland surely hopes that impressive young righty Triston McKenzie will be back to full strength to join them after a teres major strain and a UCL sprain shortened his season. Former AL Cy Young winner Shane Bieber has another year of club control remaining, but he was limited by injuries as well and has been floated as a potential offseason trade candidate with just one year to go before he reaches the open market. Cal Quantrill, who struggled immensely in 2023, is also still under club control, while depth options like Xzavion Curry, Joey Cantillo and Hunter Gaddis are all on the 40-man roster, too.

Rays, Alex Jackson Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rays re-signed catcher Alex Jackson to a new minor league contract, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. He’ll head to spring training as a non-roster invitee and compete for a roster spot alongside Rene Pinto — the only catcher currently on Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster.

Jackson, 28 next month, was the sixth overall draft pick by the Mariners back in 2014 and for some time ranked among the game’s top prospects. He’s become an oft-moved journeyman, however, spending time with four organizations over the past three seasons (Braves, Marlins, Brewers, Rays). In parts of four Major League campaigns, he’s appeared in 66 games and batted .141/.243/.227 in 185 trips to the plate. He spent the bulk of the ’23 season with the Brewers’ Triple-A club but was traded to the Rays on Aug. 1. He appeared in only 14 Triple-A games after the swap due to a shoulder injury, however.

While he’s yet to have any sustained success at the plate in the big leagues, Jackson has posted a far more palatable .246/.326/.525 batting line with 60 home runs in 964 plate appearances at the Triple-A level (spread across parts of five seasons). Strikeouts have been an issue for him both in the upper minors (29.7%) and particularly in the big leagues (48.1%).

Given the lack of options behind the plate on the Rays’ roster, Jackson figures to be one of many candidates brought in over the next several months. Pinto himself is hardly an established MLB-caliber backstop. Though he grades as a quality defender, the 27-year-old has all of 188 MLB plate appearances under his belt, during which he’s produced a .235/.255/.399 batting line with eight home runs and a grisly 36.7% strikeout rate.

Blue Jays Outright Cam Eden

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Blue Jays outfielder Cam Eden went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Buffalo, per a team announcement. Toronto had not previously announced a DFA for Eden, though that’s not required before placing a player on waivers. His outright frees up a spot on the team’s 40-man roster.

Eden, 25, was Toronto’s sixth-round pick in 2019 and made his big league debut in 2023. Appearing in just five games, the speedster went 1-for-6 with a single and a pair of strikeouts. The bulk of Eden’s season was spent in Buffalo, where he posted a .257/.354/.333 batting line. As evidenced by that stat line, Eden is quite light on power (just three home runs in 460 plate appearances) but draws walks at an above-average clip. He’s also a major threat on the bases, where he went 53-for-57 in attempted steals.

Overall, Eden hasn’t had a full season of above-average production at the dish in pro ball, with the exception of his 2021 campaign in High-A (.274/.382/.402). But he’s a plus runner with more than 2000 innings of professional experience in center field who’ll now stick with the Jays organization and give them some depth in the upper minors, should injuries create a necessity for help in the outfield, some speed off the bench and/or a right-handed bat.

Joey Krehbiel Elects Free Agency

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Right-hander Joey Krehbiel, who was designated for assignment by the Orioles last week, has declined an outright assignment and opted to become a free agent, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. The 30-year-old had been previously outrighted in his career, which grants him the result to reject a subsequent outright assignment.

Krehbiel pitched 57 innings of relief with the 2022 Orioles but logged just five MLB frames in 2023, spending the rest of the time down in Triple-A Norfolk. Krehbiel has performed reasonably well in the bigs with Baltimore, pitching to a 3.73 ERA with a 19% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate and 41.1% grounder rate in his 63 2/3 frames over the past two seasons. That said, he also walked more than 14% of his opponents in 39 1/3 Triple-A innings, to say nothing of an unsightly 1.6 HR/9 mark with Baltimore’s top affiliate in Norfolk.

Last year’s 57 MLB innings were a career-high for Krehbiel, who’s appeared in parts of four campaigns between the D-backs, Rays and O’s. He’s turned in a 3.65 ERA with sub-par strikeout and walk rates in that time, averaging 94.7 mph on his heater and generating grounders at a roughly average rate.

Krehbiel will head to the open market in search of a new opportunity, likely on a minor league deal. He has a minor league option remaining, which will add to his appeal for clubs who have interest in bringing him aboard as a depth option for their relief corps. And, since he still has fewer than two years of MLB service time, Krehbiel is controllable for another five seasons. Of course, he’d need to pitch his way onto a big league roster and carve out a permanent role for that to be a factor of any real note.

Seven Players Receive Qualifying Offers

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Seven players in this year’s free agent class have been tagged with the qualifying offer, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (X link). Those players are:

Previous reports had already indicated that Teoscar Hernández, Mitch Garver, J.D. Martinez and Rhys Hoskins had not received the QO. The same is true of Jorge Soler and longer-shot candidates like Kenta Maeda and Kevin Kiermaier.

The QO is valued at $20.325MM this offseason. Players have until next Tuesday to decide whether to accept. The seven players who were tagged all seemed virtual locks to both receive and decline it. It’s hard to envision anyone in this group taking a one-year pact.

Indeed, the more surprising aspect of this year’s class were the number of players who were not qualified. Last winter, 14 players were tagged with the QO. Borderline cases Joc Pederson and Martín Pérez wound up accepting. Teams were far more risk-averse this winter, shying away from the potential lofty commitment for all but the market’s top options.

[Related: Which Picks Would Each Team Forfeit By Signing A Qualified Free Agent?]

With QO decisions now made, every free agent is allowed to begin negotiations with other teams. The five-day window of exclusive negotiation with their incumbent club is over. If these players sign elsewhere, their teams would be entitled to compensation.

The Twins, as a revenue sharing recipient, stand to receive the greatest compensation. Assuming Gray beats a $50MM guarantee (a good bet), Minnesota’s compensatory pick would fall after the first round in next year’s draft. The Cubs, as a team that neither receives sharing nor paid the luxury tax, would land a choice that falls between Competitive Balance Round B and the start of the third round for Bellinger’s departure.

San Diego, Toronto and Philadelphia all surpassed the CBT threshold this year. They’d therefore receive the lowest compensation — a draft choice between Rounds 4 and 5. The Angels finished the season right on the border of the $233MM threshold and don’t yet know whether they paid the tax. As a result, they’re still awaiting word on whether they’d land the pick before the third round or after the fourth if Ohtani heads elsewhere.

Tyler Gilbert, Austin Adams Elect Free Agency

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The Diamondbacks announced they’ve outrighted pitchers Tyler Gilbert and Austin Adams off the 40-man roster. The moves were necessary to create space for the reinstatement of five players from the 60-day injured list. Arizona’s 40-man is at capacity with the offseason underway, while Gilbert and Adams have each chosen free agency.

Gilbert is best known for throwing a no-hitter in his first career start (fourth appearance overall) back in 2021. The former sixth-round draftee has pitched in each of the last three big league campaigns, totaling 91 2/3 innings. He owns a 4.32 ERA, including a 5.19 mark over 17 1/3 frames out of the bullpen this year. Gilbert struck out a career-high 26.4% of opponents while averaging a personal-best 92.5 MPH on his fastball. That wasn’t enough to hold his spot on Arizona’s roster but should aid him in landing a minor league opportunity elsewhere.

Adams, 32, has 132 MLB games between four clubs. He inked a minor league contract with Arizona last offseason and reached the majors in May. The right-hander came out of the bullpen on 24 occasions for Torey Lovullo. He allowed 12 runs (11 earned) in 17 1/3 innings, walking eight and hitting five batters. Adams punched out 22 behind a decent 12.1% swinging strike rate. While the slider specialist has always flashed the ability to miss bats, below-average control has led to plenty of walks and a staggering number of hits batsmen (including an MLB-leading 24 in just 52 2/3 innings two seasons ago).

The veteran hurler’s time in the desert ended on a sour note. Adams broke his right ankle when he was hit by a Joc Pederson comebacker in early August. That ended his season and made it a virtual lock Arizona would cut him loose rather than retain him on a projected $1.1MM arbitration salary.

Drew Smyly Exercised Player Option

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Left-hander Drew Smyly exercised his player option to return to the Cubs, tweets Jesse Rogers of ESPN. He’ll make an $8.5MM salary next season and is guaranteed a $2.5MM buyout on a mutual option for 2025.

There wasn’t much suspense with the decision. Smyly wasn’t going to beat $11MM in guarantees on the open market. The veteran southpaw had a tough 2023 campaign, allowing five earned runs per nine across 142 1/3 innings. The Cubs moved him to the bullpen in mid-August as his struggles mounted. Smyly fared well in relief, working to a 2.51 ERA through 28 2/3 innings.

That’s perhaps the ideal role for him to assume in 2024. The Cubs have Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks and Jameson Taillon locked into three rotation spots. They’re likely to add at least one arm this winter to replace Marcus Stroman, who opted out of his contract. Javier Assad, Jordan Wicks and Hayden Wesneski headline the remaining options for back-end roles.

With Smyly officially back in the fold, Roster Resource projects the Cubs’ 2024 player payroll around $178MM. They’re at roughly $186MM in luxury tax obligations, around $50MM shy of the threshold. Chicago opened the ’23 campaign with a payroll around $184MM.

Guardians Designate Cam Gallagher For Assignment

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The Guardians announced that right-hander Tanner Bibee was activated from the 60-day injured list, a procedural move since there’s no IL from today until Spring Training. To open a 40-man spot for him, catcher Cam Gallagher was designated for assignment.

Gallagher looked like a non-tender candidate entering the offseason. After signing last offseason, the right-handed hitter ran a .126/.154/.168 line across 149 plate appearances as a backup catcher. Even with a modest projected arbitration salary of $1.3MM, the complete lack of offense made it difficult for Cleveland to keep him on the MLB roster.

It became clear they’d move on once they claimed Christian Bethancourt from the Rays this afternoon. The Guards will now have a week to trade Gallagher or put him on waivers. Assuming he goes unclaimed, he’ll become a free agent.

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